In the existing technology of making a liquid crystal display, a glass substrate has to be transferred from a cartridge, on which a plurality of glass substrates are juxtaposed or piled up, to a production line in which a plurality of different processes are performed on the glass substrate so as to complete a panel. During the transportation, the glass substrates stored in the cartridge has to be removed for inspection, and then put it back after the glass substrates are fully checked and inspected. However, the thickness of the glass substrate is merely about 0.4 to 0.7 mm, and it is very brittle and tends to crack. In addition, once the glass substrate is found damaged, the damaged glass substrate has to be removed from the cartridge.
Since the space between every two adjacent compartments for storing the glass substrates is quite small, and there is no pick-and-place apparatus for retrieving a glass substrate, whether it is damaged, from the cartridge, and then place it back after the glass substrate is checked and inspected. Currently, the pick-and-place is performed manually, and it exhausts a great deal of time. In addition, during the handling, the glass substrate tends to be broken if care is not taken by the handler.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a pick-and-place apparatus so as to efficiently handle the handling of the glass substrate.